My Events You access this list from the MasterWeddingPlanner.com (MWP) navigation menu. Here you will find a list of all the Events you have created or have been added to by another MWP member. The first screen you come to will be your "Current" Events. You may also have Events that are not displayed as Current Events (Inactive, Completed, Inquiries, Pending, etc.) but they can still be accessed using the "Search All Events" link. When you created your Profile and set up the Event Contract Status Options, you indicated for each status whether you wanted Events with that status to be displayed on your Current Events list. Again, if you need to change what you want, simply return to My Profile and make the change.

Create New Event When you create a new Event, all your hard work in setting up your Profile information will pay off. You will enter the Event Name and Date and then you will be able to select the appropriate information from the next eight dropdown boxes of information. You will be able to select the Contract Status, Event Type, Service Provided, the source of the Referral, and the Primary Locale of the Event. Selecting the correct information here (you can change it later if you like) will provide you with useful summary information down the road. Next, you will be able to select the appropriate Checklist Group, Timeline Group and Budget Group for your Event. (You created these Groups of Items when you set up your Profile.) After completing this step, all the Checklist Items, with their respective Due Dates and Email reminder days will automatically be added to the Event and the dates will automatically be calculated based on the Event Date you enter. Also, all the Timeline Items associated with the Timeline Group will be added as well, however, you will still need to enter the dates and times manually when you know them. Lastly, the Budget Group Items will be applied to the Budget Estimate you enter and the dollar allocation for Budget Items will automatically be calculated.

Finally, you will be able to display or hide any of the 10 sections of information relating to the Event. You can display/hide it from yourself (as "Owner" of the Event) if it will not be used, or from all others (Non-Owners). The display/hiding of sections can be changed at any time.

Dashboard The primary page for an Event is the "Dashboard" and it contains the 10 sections of information about an Event. In addition to accessing the 10 sections of information, the Dashboard will also display the items you feel are most important, but items of lesser importance can be viewed by clicking the "View All" button in the desired Section. For example, the Event Participants section of the Dashboard would probably contain the Bride, Groom, Maid of Honor and the Best Man, however, to see a complete list of Event Participants including the Ushers, etc., you would click the "View All" button on the Event Participants section of the Dashboard. By having a Dashboard, you can highlight the information you feel is more important and want to be displayed prominently. Whenever you add a Timeline, Checklist, Event Participant, Guest, etc., there will be a checkbox indicating where that item should be displayed. Do you want it on the Dashboard or should it only be contained in the View All area for that section.

A blank Dashboard is shown in the image below. The only section containing an entry is the Assigned Staff section. MWP assumes the creator of the Event is a significant Staff Member, however, if you do not want to display that Staff Member on the Dashboard, simply click Modify and uncheck the Dashboard checkbox and that Staff Member will only be seen if someone clicks the View All button.

Event Participants When you add a New Event Participant, you specify their role and near the bottom of the screen, you have the option to "Attach" all the Group Checklist Items you previously assigned to the Event to this individual where the role is the same. For example, if in your Group Checklist Items, the Bride was responsible for 15 items, when you add the Bride to the Event, clicking the Attach checkbox will automatically assign the 15 previously added items to the Bride. Attaching the items prevents having to manually do it later. Also, you can specify No Emails if the individual does not want to receive overdue Checklist Item email reminders or other emails within MWP. Also, if you specify the Event Participant is a "Client" then the individual will be able to see the dollar figures in the Budget section, otherwise they will only see the Committed Services with no dollar amounts. Also, as a the Event Owner (creater of the Event), you can provide whatever maximum permissions you want to the Event Participants you add. However, the Event Participants you add will at most be able to provide View permissions to any Event Participants they add. So if a Client wants to provide someone else with more permissions than View, they will need to ask you to do that.

You need to specify whether the Event Participant name will be on the Dashboard by checking the Dashboard checkbox and also whether they can log in to MWP by checking the Log In checkbox. If you need to change any of the information with the exception of the "Attach" functionality, you can do so at any time.

Event Timeline Here you can specify the Event Timelines. Typically these are actual activities rather than "Checklists" that need to be performed. If you know the Date/Time, you can enter them, but it is OK not to enter the information until you know it. However, until you do so, the entries not containing dates and times will not be sorted properly.

Booked Vendors This is the only section where you cannot enter information. This section is automatically created based on the Vendor commitments you create in the Budget/Contract section below. By having a complete list of Vendors associated with the Event prevents you from having to search all of the individual Budget Categories below.

Checklist Items You use this section to create Checklist Items that should be performed by the specified Due Date. You also assign responsibility for the Item and the EMail Days. EMail Days are the number of days prior to the Due Date where an email will automatically begin being sent to the individual responsible for the Checklist Item until the Item is marked Completed. To stop the automatic emails, the Item can be completed or the Due Date can be advanced. Or an alternative would be to indicate No Emails for the Event Participant, a less than satisfactory solution.

Finally, if the Checklist Item is also a item that you want to track as a Completed Task (for billing, etc.), the Create Task checkbox can be checked and, upon clicking the submit button, you will automatically be taken to the Completed Task section with the appropriate information already filled in.

Budgets/Contracts This section is used to make commitments to Vendors and therefore is the method for attaching a Vendor to the Event. When you created the Event, the budget dollars were allocated based on the Budget Group you selected. If you did not select a Budget Group, or if you need to make changes, you do so in this section. You will notice the section is broken down by Budget Categories. The Categories can consist of Photography, Florist, Entertainment, etc. and you will notice the section displays the total budgeted amount, the amount committed, and the remaining amount for each Category. Before making any entries, you first need to select the desired Category. If no money has been allocated for the Category yet, you can create a new Category and allocate funds.

Once you have selected the Category, you can commit funds by selecting a Vendor. Your only Vendor choices are those Vendors you have previously entered in My Vendors when you set up your Profile. If you want to add a Vendor that is not in your list, simply go to My Vendors and add them. Once you do, they will be available to be added for future Events. Once you have selected the Vendor, enter the Service they will be providing and the Amount. Once you do, those funds will be committed and the available funds will be reduced.

Once you have committed to the Vendor, Payment Plans with Due Dates and Amounts can be established. You can also upload a copy of the contract for viewing. Keep in mind any documents you upload MUST be less than 1 Megabyte in size or the upload will fail. When payments are made, they can be entered in the Payment Plan history. Finally, as indicated above, only Clients and your staff can see all the dollars shown. However, individual Vendors who are MWP Members will be able to see dollars only for their entry as well as the payment plan information. Guest Vendors do not see dollars nor can they manage the Payment Plan information using MWP. Finally, Event Participants that have been designated as Clients can also perform many of the Budget tasks, however, they cannot enter payment information. Also, if you give an Event Participant full Budget permissions without making them a Client, they still will not be able to see dollars or perform a lot of the tasks.

Completed Tasks This section is used to track all completed Tasks and the individual who completed them. A summary of this information can then be used for those Vendors that bill by the hour or by the completed task.

Event Contacts The Contacts work similar to the Vendors in that you maintain your Contacts in the My Contacts section, however, you can attach them to individual Events. By managing them from the My Contacts section, the conversations and follow-ups you establish can cross Event lines. So if you need to create a new Contact, you need to do so in the My Contacts section.

Finally, keep in mind that Event Participants do not see the Contacts section in the Dashboard.

My Checklists You access this list from the navigation menu and there you will see a combined list of all Checklist Items that have not yet been marked as Complete, spanning all Active Events you are associated with. If you find there are Items here for Inactive Events, you need to go to the Event and uncheck the Active checkbox. Also, when in this screen, you can update your Checklists from a single spot.

My Timelines You access this list from the navigation menu and there you will see a combined list of Timeline Items spanning all Active Events you are associated with. Also, when in this screen, you can view any Timeline, however, to prevent making a mistake by updating a Timeline that would conflict with another Timeline in the Event, you can only update Timelines from within the Event.